Advantages

Reliability

Disadvantages

An excellent entry level turntable for multiple uses.

Numark seems to have secured themselves the title of the best company for starter DJs' and it is easy to see why. With over 30 years of experience, all of their products do the basics well and in the TT1650, that train of thought is continued.

First of all a couple of specifictaions to whet your appetite. It's direct drive, Pitch control with the toggle gives you a range of +/- 10% and two speed settings of 33.3RPM and 45RPM.

Stylistically the TT1650 is easy on the eye. Made of a hard wearing plastic with no sharp edges amd a metal turntable mounted off centre. It is the standard size for this type of equipment coming in at 7 1/2" x 5 1/4" x 18". Standard size in order to fit DJ booths. For those who want to DJ or just listen to their vinyl, it fulfills what is required of it. Startup is done with the use of a large 'play' button in the bottom corner and it starts quickly.

The swivel arm is a robust construction, durable enough to spend many hours of prolonged use. The cartridge that is included should be cleaned regularly to avoid skippage but delivers a very good sound. The controller knob is responsive and can easily change the pitch control with its 10 per cent variation.

As a stand alone unit or your first foray into the DJ-ing world this piece of kit does exactly what you would expect of it with no fuss. Quick and easy assembley at a relatively low cost cannot be argued with. On a personal note mine has worked without problem for quite a few years, and I know how to break stuff!!

would recommend, very good

The TT1650 is the industry standard entry level turntable. There is something quite alluring about this deck, it has everything you could ask for from a beginners point of view, it stylish, cheap, and has features no other entry level deck has. Numark is a well respected manufacturer of quality dj equipment. They are probably most well known for their ability to create high quality turntable's for people on a budget, this is the category where the TT1650 falls into. This turntable features something which almost no other manufacturer supplies with an entry level turntable, a direct drive motor. This is what all the professional turntables have, and Numark have managed to still use this however keep the cost down. The direct drive motor gives the advantage of extra torque when compared to a belt driven turntable. A large amount of torque is one of the key issues to take into consideration when buying a turntable, with the TT1650 providing a perfect amount for a beginner. However there are draw backs, which would make me reconsider buying this as a beginner. Firstly the direct drive motor, although this provides more torque than a belt driven turntable you have to consider the fact that, this must have been made very cheaply and pressumably the quality couldn't be that high, and come to a decision, would you prefer a turntable with a direct drive motor which couldn't possibly have as high of a build quality as with the pro models? Or would you prefer to spend your money on a belt driven turntable, which although doesn't have as much torque is much more likely to have a better build quality? Personally I would go for belt driven turntable, either an earlier Numark model, or possibly a gemini. Secondly the pitch shifter isn't as accurate as you would surely like it too be. There is sort of a grey area as you come 0, I would say that roughly between -2 and +2 you can't really tell if it is making much difference. Finally the last minor problem I found with this turntable is if you are doing a long mix then the turntable doesn't seem to quite be able to keep up with you, and begins to slow down and get tired.

All in all, I would say that the positives of this deck far outweigh the negatives as it is low cost and quality does come at a premium. I would recommend this deck to anyone. However i would shop around first, to find yourself a good deal because some shops really do over value their products.